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Cartesian coordinate system

A Cartesian coordinate system is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numericalcoordinates, which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length. Each reference line is called a coordinate axis or just axis of the system, and the point where they meet is its origin, usually at ordered pair . The coordinates can also be defined as the positions of the perpendicular projections of the point onto the two axes, expressed as signed distances from the origin.